Mean, Median, Mode Explained

Which Average Should You Use?

Mean is best for symmetric, normally distributed data. Median is more robust when there are outliers (e.g., income data where a few very high earners skew the average). Mode is useful for categorical data.

When Mean Misleads

If 9 people earn £20,000 and 1 person earns £200,000, the mean income is £38,000 — far above what most people earn. The median (£20,000) tells the real story. This is why median household income is more useful than mean.

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation measures how spread out values are around the mean. A low SD means values are clustered closely. A high SD means data is widely spread. Essential for understanding variability in any data set.

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